A Woman's Journey With Rare Disease

Other “Smart” & “Not So Smart” Ideas

I bit the bullet with some Christmas money & upgraded my Apple TV.

Just for kicks, I tried 3 of the few free 7 minute workouts (in the app store) today & they kicked my butt. I thought it was a nice change of pace since I didn’t feel like going out today. I can tell they worked because my noodle arms are sore (but not too sore, just worked).

My life is becoming increasingly “digi-fied” but I am loving it, actually.

I’ve even given gifts like this a few times, to rave reviews from recipients. I admit it, I’m a proud tech junkie.

Regular readers of my blog know I have a lot of health tracking I have to do. I’ve tried to integrate as much as possible into my phone. I continually talk about & research how I can make it better. I closely follow devices & apps that help me to do this.

I’ve also featured some great crowdfunding projects in past posts.

Today, I realized there were a few things I did overlook in the mainstream that have proven useful to me & some interesting developments in the works.

To not spoil the fun, I’ll just say the shoes were the most creative surprise to me. (I have a few Twitter friends who showed me a few other interesting prototypes for smart shoes than just what is highlighted by Mashable.) I’m not sure I’d fork over that kind of money for a pair of shoes, but I know people who would & it would be a worthwhile investment for them.

The “needs to go back to the drawing board” award goes to Withings, with their thermometer. That is one spoiler worth discussing because it deserves to be panned.

I don’t have kind things to say about it after the creativity I’ve seen with both standard smart thermometers but also continuous temperature monitors I saw & highlighted in my recent post “Smart Vital Sign(s) & Skin Monitoring.”

The Withings thermometer looks like a bloated dinosaur next to what I highlighted. Plus it’s at least twice the price of most smart thermometers out today or a few releasing soon (& much less portable).

It comes as a surprise to me because I know this company usually attempts to be cutting edge with many of their products.

Some of their fitness bands actually have a pulse oximeter built-in, & their smart scales measure quite a bit of body composition data.

I realized recently, however; my “smarting up” has limits.

For example, I’m not ready to fork out over $100 for a scale regardless of what it measures. Or regardless of who makes it — whether it is Fitbit,Withings, or whomever.

I think the pricing for most of these smart scales is pretty overpriced for what they are. Especially because it’s not like they do more than one thing in the end – weigh you.

Maybe if they had artificial intelligence that scolded me for eating junk or cheered me for eating healthy food & gave messages of positive affirmation for my body image when I stepped on it to weigh myself, then it would be worth paying more money for it.

I did order one for me to try during my post transplant rehabilitation stay. I know from most transplant patients it is important to track my weight after transplant & frequently within the first six months, in case I have unexplained gains or losses.

I found one made by Taylor that I think will work fine that I paid less than $40 for. The only thing it won’t track is my BMI, which I know can be calculated other ways anyway.

If the connectivity or smart features are ultimately a bust with it, I know it will still work as the run-of-the-mill scale, so I’m not out much either way & I didn’t pay that much more than a “normal” scale.

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6 thoughts on “Other “Smart” & “Not So Smart” Ideas”

Thank you for sharing all of this info! Since I have been out of the tech field for almost a year (gasp!), I feel really out of touch with what’s available on the market now. I also don’t actively search because I have absolutely no income, and the worst thing to do is go shopping on an empty stomach – or in this case, shopping on an empty bank account.

I hear you that’s also why I try to post things that are like $30 or less so just in case a few people do get a little bit I scrounged up it’s not going to break the bank to get something useful for a reasonable price

The few exceptions that are higher priced or a bit more over the $30, I do just because I feel they are a worthwhile investment long-term. Also there’s nothing else like it out there on the market right now, at least from what I’ve seen. I always try to have a method to my junkie madness 🙂

Yeah if it’s a pricey thing it better do something for me that nothing else can do or a fill a void that needs to be filled. I also appreciate that it seems crowdfunding device companies lately do realize too that many people with health conditions who could benefit can’t afford to pay an arm & a leg for their products, so they try to price things accordingly. I’m always going to highlight something like that when it’s reasonable.